


cherry kisses

by bunnyctzen



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Vampire!Renjun, a late submission 4 halloween, dumbasses to lovers, if i forgot anything i'll add!!, minor blood mentions, non explicit sexual themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:02:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27329965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnyctzen/pseuds/bunnyctzen
Summary: mark is pretty sure renjun from psych class is a vampire. now he has to figure out what he's going to do about it.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Mark Lee
Comments: 11
Kudos: 225





	cherry kisses

**Author's Note:**

> hello my friends it is i,,,,,,,
> 
> this was supposed 2 be up last night but we r catching the tail end of spooky season!!
> 
> pls enjoy the most ridiculous thing i've ever written and thank u to all of the friends who read this over for me and helped me feel okay to post!!! i love u i cherish u endlessly mwah

there are a handful of universal truths in this world that mark knows he can believe in—y’know, the moon will always orbit around the earth, mondays are terrible, the pythagorean theorem. no post on sundays, except for amazon prime. 

renjun from his 8am psych class on tuesday is hot. 

the sky is blue. 

that very same renjun, who sits at the very back of the lecture hall at the ass crack of dawn and always looks on top of the fucking world, is a vampire. 

it may be a bit of an outlandish accusation, but mark _knows_ it. 

he feels it in his bones the same way he does when he’s visiting home with an overflowing basket of dirty laundry and he knows he’s about to get shit from his mom about how he needs to get his life together. 

he has sources. 

he’ll cite them. 

psych class renjun is on some otherworldly level of beauty, and in spite of the treacherously early hour, mark has never seen him look sleep deprived. 

not even _slightly_ tired. 

point two. mark... watches him. sue him, okay? please refer back to point one. he’s only human.

renjun carries himself with the grace of a ballet dancer, and that time mark made an ass out of himself and tripped on air in front of the guy, he stuck an arm out to stop him from landing on his own face faster than the speed of light. 

like, literally. 

mark didn’t even see him move until it was already over, and renjun was walking away.

 _vampire_. 

one time they got paired up for a group project. 

mark generally types up his notes because his writing hand lags behind his brain in the morning, and it’s his only hope at getting down all of the content he can possibly absorb, because their prof speeds through slides like his life depends on it. 

his last and final point, other than the absolutely overwhelming vampire vibe renjun gives off, is his penmanship. 

he writes like a scholar from the 16th century or something—mark swears it makes the hand the declaration of independence was written in look like kindergartener’s script (assuming the version in that nic cage movie is what the original actually looks like, because he thinks it might be the only version he’s seen).

twenty-something year old boys don’t write like they’re pouring their soul out to their loved one in some shakespearean play. 

renjun is a vampire. 

the thing is, now that mark is completely sure of this fact, he has to figure out what the fuck he’s supposed to do with this information. 

should he make a post in r/relationshipadvice on how to ask a vampire out successfully?

it’d probably be an overgeneralization to say all vampires are the same. plus like, maybe that’d be better suited for the paranormal subreddits instead. he’s fairly sure he’d get laughed at.

he’s kind of shot for options, though, because they’ve probably only spoken like three times this entire semester, and it’s already after midterms and he’s definitely running out of time to do something about his vampire crush. 

mark really needs to work something out.

naturally, he sticks his foot directly in his mouth when the opportunity arises. 

mark has never caught renjun outside of the vicinity of their shared lecture hall, but as fate would have it, he’s at an empty table on the second floor of the library in the middle of mark’s lunch hour. 

this is a recent development. 

in all the years he’s been a student here, this is the one place mark has consistently come to when he needs to study. he got stuck with the _worst_ possible roommate in student housing, and he can’t afford a decent enough pair of headphones to block out the constant noise when he actually needs to focus on his schoolwork. 

today, though, he thinks he can make an exception. 

special circumstances. 

“you’re a vampire.”

back to the mouth foot. 

no _hey renjun it’s mark from psych class_ , or _is this seat taken_. 

straight to the point, in the way mark’s thoughts always come out when he’s stressing over something and can’t quite figure out the right words to say. 

he’s already sitting across from renjun now and making direct eye contact, so there’s no way to brush it off and pretend the words were meant for someone else. 

renjun looks up from his work, and raises an eyebrow at mark. 

“what makes you say that?”

shit. 

mark is really in for it now. 

he kind of has to say _something_ , because every second he sits here without answering mark takes a step closer to his own untimely demise. 

the embarrassment kind, though. he’s pretty sure renjun wouldn’t kill him in the middle of the campus library. 

everything rational he prepared kind of flies out the window. 

“i don’t think you’re very good at hiding it.”

this seems to amuse renjun. 

“and what would having that information do for you?”

well, primarily, it’d get him a little hot under the collar. from there? mark doesn’t really have all of his ducks in a row quite yet. he’s kind of winging it.

“i haven’t really figured that out yet.”

“mm. good luck with that, then.”

renjun focuses his attention back on whatever he was working on before mark interrupted him, and now mark has to sit here in silence trying to figure out what the fuck that means. 

he ruminates for a couple moments longer. 

“you would’ve denied it already if i were wrong.”

renjun finishes what he’s writing, and then puts his pen down.

“suppose i am, then. what’s your next move? are you planning on telling anyone?”

“would anyone even believe me if i tried?”

“probably not. we’re a couple centuries late for angry mobs.”

“i bet you’d be really popular on buzzfeed unsolved, though.”

renjun snorts. 

“maybe i should clean my room before a camera crew decides to raid it, then.”

things are weird for renjun and mark. 

well, not weird in a _weird_ way, but... different. 

for starters, mark has started sitting beside renjun in their psych lectures. 

they don’t really talk because it’s like, definitely rude and out of place to have a full on conversation in a learning space, but they get a couple minutes with each other before and after class. 

it’s not really the ideal place to ask vampire questions, but mark does ask him how his morning is going, and renjun talks about the assignments he has due. 

he tells renjun about a netflix show he’s been watching, and renjun confides that he’s been pretending this entire time that he grasps the concept of tiktok, but he can’t for the life of him figure what the fuck it all means. 

mark will have to ask him how old he actually is, one day. 

maybe renjun can help him with his ancient history classes. 

they sit at a table in a cafe near campus during their shared lunch break. 

renjun orders some black sludge concoction with a straw, and mark enjoys his caramel macchiato. 

“caffeine is the only thing that really helps,” he confesses. 

blood.

he’s talking about the blood thing. 

they haven’t had this talk. 

“helps... how?”

“imagine you’re sitting in the middle of a bakery all day, and all you can smell is freshly baked pastries. bread coming out of the oven. you forgot to bring money for lunch, and you’re _really_ fucking regretting it.”

“...ah.”

“don’t get me wrong, it definitely tastes like shit. it’s like filling up on water to feel less hungry, even though you’d rather be eating instead. but it takes the edge off for a while.”

“until when?”

“the next time i get a chance to feed, _obviously_. i thought you were more educated about this vampire stuff. you’re really making me give you a crash course?”

mark looks around quickly to see if anyone is listening in on them. 

this is insane. 

they’re really doing this out in the middle of a starbucks. 

“you don’t... _kill_ people, do you?”

“i try not to. gets a little messy, honestly. it’s too much of a hassle.”

of course that wouldn’t be a big deal to renjun. 

objectively, this is something he’s been dealing with for centuries. 

it’s still a lot. 

“where do you like, find people then?”

“where do you find people to go home with _you_?”

the tips of mark’s ears burn. 

he clears his throat, and takes a sip of his sugary drink. 

it’s not hard to imagine just how easily renjun lures his dinner in. 

how could anyone say no?

by some stroke of genius, mark convinces renjun it’s a good idea to come back to his dorm so they can study for an upcoming test in their shared class. 

renjun very clearly does _not_ participate in eating the take-out mark orders, but instead opts to take the break with him to chat. 

bless mark’s horribly cramped room, but also curse it. 

they really only have enough room to face each other on mark’s bed, legs crossed and knees touching. 

“does it... hurt?”

“does what hurt?”

“you know what.”

there are probably a thousand better places to have this conversation. 

mark is a masochist. 

“mm, only a little. at first it’s pretty bad, but then it feels good. like, _really_ good—that’s kind of the dangerous part.”

he’s fairly sure renjun can hear his heart rate pick up, but at least he’s kind enough not to mention it. 

still, mark is kind of at a loss for words. 

he nods. 

“are you... hungry right now?”

“is this your roundabout way of asking me to bite you?”

mark swallows. 

his throat feels like sandpaper.

“i’m _always_ hungry, mark. all you ever have to do is ask.”

the air in the room falls stagnant. it’s horribly dry and still, and sounds stay close. 

of course he wants this. 

this is all he’s been wanting since he settled on his conclusion in the first place. 

“you can... bite me. if you’re hungry.”

“is that what _you_ want, though?” 

it’s ridiculous to feel like his answer will be revealing, because it’s more than clear to the two of them that he so _desperately_ wants this, but the words stick in mark’s throat nonetheless. 

he nods again. 

“do you promise?”

“i promise.”

mark’s words come out as more of a whisper now—it’s about all he thinks he’s capable of. 

renjun reaches between them to pick up mark’s box of pad thai, and sets it on the floor beside the bed. he then gestures for mark to come forward and meet him, so mark awkwardly climbs over bunched up blankets to get to renjun’s lap. 

it makes a little more sense to straddle him to keep his balance, but it puts mark in a far more compromising situation than he thought he’d end up in upon inviting renjun over to study. 

his touch is cold. 

not ice cold, or anything. he doesn’t draw heat away, but renjun’s body is no warmer than the room around them. 

still, it feels like every place they make contact is absolutely searing. 

renjun guides mark’s head onto his shoulder, and brushes the backs of his knuckles along the nape of his neck. 

“close your eyes. it makes it go by a little easier.”

mark takes a deep breath, and closes them. 

he trusts renjun. 

renjun’s breath draws closer and closer, and then mark finally feels his lips on his neck. 

“tell me to stop if you need me to, okay?”

mark nods. 

he feels sharp teeth on the surface of his skin, and then renjun bites. 

at first, it’s _horrible._

mark grips renjun’s arm tightly, and gasps. 

hellfire. 

everything is raw like an acid burn, and mark feels his eyes sting. 

for a few agonizing seconds, he thinks he’ll die. 

still, he knows to hold on. 

he’s strong enough to bear it. 

the pain reaches its peak, and finally it breaks. 

it isn’t all at once. 

at first it starts as a dull ache, and he’s gained a little more presence of mind to realize renjun has started drinking.

the muscles in mark’s shoulders relax next. 

it feels... warm. 

inviting. 

he sighs. 

the feeling builds. 

it starts at the top of his spine—a creeping warm feeling that reaches down his back and down through his body. 

down to each of his fingertips. 

it pulsates. 

mark feels the first hints of pleasure work their way through his veins and nerve endings. 

none of it is centralized. it’s the kind that makes him feel like he’s being heated up from within, and he doesn’t know what to do with any of it. 

he leans his full weight onto renjun now, and his breaths are weighted. 

mark needs _something_. anything. it’s too overwhelming to sit still, but he has no proper outlet for the feeling. 

it has him squirming on renjun’s lap in search of some sort of relief, and he finds it when he rolls his hips the right way against renjun’s thigh. 

mark’s brain is off in a far away place. 

he’s hard in his pants and it feels like the world is a cozy, heavy blanket wrapped around him. renjun’s grip is steady. mark sees god. 

the whimper that escapes his lips is indicative of just how fucking far gone he is, pathetically chasing some kind of relief for his condition. 

everything feels too hot. 

it’s hot, but it’s cold. 

mark feels like he could run a marathon, but also like he’s somewhere between reality and dreamland. 

somewhere, renjun stops. 

he licks mark’s wounds clean, and pets his hair. 

mark is far too tired to do anything about his situation, limp in renjun’s arms and foggy-brained. 

still, he knows he’s not ready to let go. 

he doesn’t want renjun to leave _ever._

renjun guides mark further up his bed and tucks him in. 

he brushes the hair out of mark’s eyes, and tells him to make sure he drinks lots of water when he wakes up. 

once mark is on the very edge of sleep, he thinks he feels a pair of lips on his forehead. 

mark has a dilemma. 

a crisis, if you will. 

once he’s awake and coherent enough to remember, embarrassment washes over him. 

things have undoubtedly changed between them. 

they’ve crossed a threshold they can’t come back from. 

he gets it, now. why renjun brings the people he feeds from home like they’re hookups. 

_god_ does he get it. 

a spot just above mark’s left collarbone aches, and when he checks it in the mirror he sees two distinct puncture marks. 

they’ve healed pretty quickly, but it’s still horribly obvious that he’s been bitten. 

a text from renjun asks him how he’s feeling, and mark isn’t sure of how to answer. 

he’s sleepier than he normally is, absolutely mortified that he got so worked up the night before, and already craving to relive the experience. 

he tells renjun he feels okay. 

it’s a good sign that he’s reaching out, right? things are different, but they’re still okay. 

mark opts to wear a hoodie to his classes today. 

tuesday morning feels like a different world. 

usually they fall into comfortable conversation about their weeks prior, but now mark is hyper-conscious of everything he says. 

the energy is different. 

they didn’t fuck, or anything. they didn’t kiss. 

yet things are expressly different. 

this morning, renjun has an extra cup of coffee on his desk. 

he slides it over to mark warmly. 

caramel macchiato. 

mark tries his very best to not let the gesture distract him during their test, but he does make sure to thank renjun before they part for their next classes.

mark’s mind wanders. 

he wonders how many people renjun brings home to feed from, and how he treats them. if he’s close with them, or if they’re strangers. 

mark isn’t stupid enough to be jealous, given that renjun is a few hundred years old, but he wonders if he’s any different. 

if it means something that renjun said yes when mark asked him to bite. 

he figures it’s gotten to the point where they should talk about it, so he texts renjun to ask if he’d like to come over again tomorrow. 

he doesn’t give any other context or hide it under the guise of another study session because he’s fairly sure they both know, but renjun accepts all the same. 

things are different, but a good sort of different. 

they’ll be okay. 

as it turns out, talking about it is far easier in theory than in practice. 

mark tells renjun they can meet like this more often, but he leaves the implications of the statement hanging in the air rather than right out in the open. 

he does, however, ask renjun how he usually eats. half because he’s still pretty fascinated by the entire ordeal, and half because he’s... curious.

renjun explains that he really only feeds once every couple days, since it’s a bit of an ordeal to arrange and he can hold out for pretty long when he needs to. 

it’s usually strangers, he says. minus the few times he’d gone a bit too long without and his roommate lent him a wrist to get renjun past the worst of it. 

strangers. 

mark isn’t a stranger. 

he wants to ask, but he only builds up the courage to after renjun has fed a second time and he’s half out of his mind. when nerves no longer hold him back, and renjun holds him safe through recovery. 

what makes mark different?

“you’re hard to say no to.”

in their next shared lunch hour, renjun complains that his roommate’s boyfriend is throwing some giant halloween party at his frat, and he’s being forced to go as a show of support. 

the idea of it is absolutely absurd, asking a vampire to dress up as something else for the night and passing people in the hallway trying to imitate a caricature of him, but it’s part of what has mark insisting that renjun attends. 

renjun tells him he’ll only go if mark comes with him. 

mark gets it, now. the part about being hard to say no to. 

he’s not huge on parties, but hell if he’s going to turn down an opportunity to spend more time with renjun in a situation that maybe kind of almost sort of resembles... a date. 

“you’d better not be serious.”

there renjun stands in mark’s doorway, completely void of any traces of a costume. 

not that he doesn’t look fucking incredible otherwise, and even more so than he usually does, but they’re going to a halloween party for god’s sake. 

“are you telling me i’m _not_ allowed to dress up as a vampire?”

“ _renjun_.”

“y’know, i really feel like that’s discriminatory. i have to be one the entire rest of the year, aren’t i allowed to get a little validation for it on the one day i don’t have to hide it?”

“but you’re literally just wearing your normal clothes! that’s like, against the rules or something. you aren’t even trying.”

“this is what vampires look like, mark. do you think we’d be able to eat if we didn’t blend in?”

“but it’s _halloween_! you’re legally obligated to put something ridiculous on and have a good time. everyone is gonna think you’re no fun.”

“i didn’t really bring anything else, though. so unless you have something—”

mark gets an idea. 

“wait a second, hold that thought. i’ll be right back.”

it takes a bit of digging and recollection of what he would’ve done with them the last time he had them out, but eventually mark finds what he’s looking for and returns to renjun at his front door. 

renjun raises an eyebrow. 

“wear them. don’t ask questions.”

“but—”

“i don’t wanna hear it. just put the cat ears on, renjun. we’re gonna be late.”

mark drinks a tiny bit more than he should. 

just like, a little. 

a microscopic amount. 

he’s hanging off of renjun toward the end of the night, and he’s pretty sure the mask to his spiderman costume is lost to the world forever, because the last time he had it out was like, six drinks ago. 

it turns out that the party’s host is actually a mutual friend. 

a scantily clad jaemin in a harley quinn wig and hot pants finds the two of them when he’s making his rounds and taking a head count, and in what retrospectively was probably a _terrible_ idea, he tells mark where his personal alcohol cupboard is. 

fast forward, mark and renjun sit outside on the back porch a little ways from where people have come out to smoke. 

the cool air is beyond refreshing on mark’s skin in spite of the fact that he’s mostly wearing spandex, and it feels nice to be away from the crowd. 

plus like, the world is kind of spinning, and mark really needed to sit down anyway.

thus they end up here, mark half asleep and fully content in renjun’s arms. 

“can i tell you a secret?”

a mark any more sober than he is now would definitely have already stopped himself at this point, but he’s a little too far gone for rational thought. 

renjun hums. 

“i really like you. like, a lot. i can’t stop thinking about you.”

mark hides his face, and renjun kisses the top of his head. 

“i know. you’re pretty bad at hiding it, actually. but it’s cute.”

mark pouts. 

“do you like _me_?”

when mark finally feels like turning around to look at him again, he sees the warmest, softest expression renjun has ever worn around him. 

“do you really think i’d wear cat ears for anyone i wasn’t emotionally invested in?”

“i mean, i have before.”

renjun snorts.

“of course you have.”

renjun decides it’d be safer if mark went home with him instead of staying on his own, and mark is absolutely thrilled by the idea. 

in spite of his lack of need for sleep, renjun has an incredibly comfy bed, and mark curls up into it immediately after stealing some of renjun’s clothes to sleep in. 

the spiderman suit was just a bit unrealistic. 

mark has sobered up the tiniest bit, but he’s still definitely drunk enough to make dumb decisions. 

cuddled up to renjun under the blankets, he makes one of them.

“have you eaten today?”

renjun shakes his head. 

“what about yesterday?”

still no. 

“bite me, then.”

“really? right now?”

“what’s wrong with right now?”

“aside from the fact that your blood smells like jungle juice?”

that would make sense. mark indulged in several red solo cups’ worth. 

“what if it was just like, a _little_. a tiny bit.”

“are you gonna regret it in the morning if i do?”

mark shakes his head. 

he’d happily let renjun feed from him every day for the rest of his life, if he got to. 

“it’s not fair that i’m sleeping in your bed while you’re hungry. you need to eat, or i’ll feel bad.”

“and there’s no other reason motivating you?”

mark stays silent. 

renjun pokes his ribs. 

“...and maybe it feels good.”

resigned, renjun sighs. 

“fine. but only a little, and then you have to sleep. it’s already late.”

it’s a fair compromise. 

this time, it’s renjun on top of him. 

before anything happens, mark is already incredibly overwhelmed by their closeness. 

when renjun finally does bite, mark is thankful it doesn’t hurt as much as it did the times before. maybe he can hand it to the alcohol, or something. 

regardless, it takes far less to get him worked up this time, either to his benefit or detriment. 

he wonders if renjun can feel drunk this way too. if it affects him. 

mark receives his answer in renjun’s tactility—they’re usually close when he feeds, and he spends a lot of that time reassuring mark with touch, but tonight reaches a step further.

mark chases, and renjun meets him. 

their pace is unhurried and intimate. mark feels like he’s absolutely floating, and renjun’s body is the only thing holding him down. 

he sees stars. 

renjun kisses him, salty and metallic and red. 

mark comes absolutely undone in his hands. 

instead of borrowing another pair of pajama pants, he decides to finally sleep without. 

morning comes, thankfully, without the sound of an alarm clock. 

it’s sunday morning, and neither of them have anywhere to be. 

for the first time, renjun feels almost warm against mark’s skin. 

it strikes him only once he’s more awake that renjun doesn’t sleep, and has therefore been holding mark patiently for hours in his slumber. 

he stayed in spite. 

mark certainly doesn’t regret the night’s events, but he figures out pretty quickly that being fed from does no favours for a hangover the morning after a party. 

when renjun asks him how he slept, though, mark knows he’s in heaven. he spent the night on a cloud, and he’s awoken to an angel in his very grasp. 

“do you still remember how to make breakfast?” he asks renjun. 

thankfully, he does. 

the eggs he makes mark are nothing short of marvelous, and mark knows he’s struck gold. 

they talk about it, over mark’s morning tea and a fresh pot of coffee. 

about them. 

it’s in order given the context of the night passed, but it’s not any less comfortable. 

unhurried, they curl up on the couch in renjun’s dorm and confide in each other again. 

mark remembers a former self that craved to exchange even the smallest conversation with his vampire lecture-mate, and renjun tells him just how difficult it was to concentrate in class with the smell of mark beside him after he’d had his first taste. 

things are okay.

they’re different, but they’re okay. 

mark knows they’ll continue to be, and they’ll figure things out as they come. 

they have time.

**Author's Note:**

> happy (belated) halloween my pals!!
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/xingowo) | [cc](https://curiouscat.me/xingowo) ♡


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